Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

Any organization has specific capability. Somewhere in the external environment, there are people
or entities that have certain problems or needs. If the capabilities of an organization enable it to
meet these needs by delivering its product in the best possible way – then a corresponding specific
group of potential users may be considered a potential market segment (or target market) for the
organization.
A market segment is a multitude of people or subjects, which have specific features or live in a
specific condition. Due to these specific features or conditions they have specific needs. To serve
these needs is the mission for an organization that is in a position to do a better job than any of its
existing competition. In this case, the market segment may become customers of the organization
Customer Relationship Management
International Standard EN ISO 9000:2000 defines quality as the degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfils a customer’s need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or
obligatory.
A customer may not necessarily know the exact specification for what he wants. Though it is in a
person’s interest to specify what is necessary for his own satisfaction, individuals or customers
don’t typically articulate their needs in that way.
Making a customer happy is the business of a service provider. Specification of the characteristics
of the product before or in the course of production is essential to the service provider in order to
make the customer happy. The provider may ask the customer, of course, but the customer is not
responsible for answering all the questions.
Obligatory requirements come from legislation, governmental decrees, specific norms for the
industry, etc. It is the responsibility of an organization to know all obligatory requirements related to
its product. ‘Generally implied’ requirements are those that are customary or common practice for
the organization, its customers and other interested parties - the need or expectation is implied. If
the client thinks it is customary or usual, he or she, of course, will not talk about it. Thus, it is again
the responsibility of an organization to clarify any ambiguous points that may be ‘implied’ by the
client.
ISO 9000 defines customer satisfaction as a ‘customer‘s perception of the degree to which the
customer‘s requirements have been fulfilled‘. Perception is just perception - very individual and
subjective, difficult to grasp, and often difficult to change. Organizations need their customers to be
happy, because customers only need an organization when they are happy with it. Of course, if
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